Free Republic

U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday they won't seek the death penalty in their cases against Mexican cartel kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Rafael Caro Quintero, the drug lord charged with orchestrating the 1985 killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent. Caro Quintero, 72, and Zambada, 75, have pleaded not guilty to an array of drug trafficking charges. The prosecutions are separate, but they similarly target two of Mexico’s most notorious narcos. It is unclear whether taking the death penalty off the table signals any possibility of a plea deal with either or both men. Zambada's lawyer, Frank Perez, said...

According to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, he has had no contact with President Donald Trump since just after last summer’s assassination attempt, when he recalls leaving Trump a message. “I can’t remember the last time I spoke to President Trump,” he told reporters Thursday. That would contradict a report in The New York Times on Wednesday that said the two had spoken in recent weeks about the mayor’s race. Cuomo called the report “false.” What You Need To Know Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday denied a New York Times report that he recently spoke with President Donald Trump about...

Data from Ammoland News indicates Colorado witnessed an exponential increase in firearm homicides after embracing a state-level gun control agenda in 2013. On February 10, 2013, less than two months after the heinous attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Breitbart News noted that Colorado Democrats were declaring war on the Second Amendment. That war included bans on “high capacity” magazines, requirements for universal background checks, fees for existing background checks, and allowing victims of gun violence to sue firearm manufacturers for the misuse of weapons. Since then, Colorado Democrats’ push for gun control has continued unabated. Most...

A woke school superintendent earning more than $424,000 per year is now using taxpayer funds to hire a personal bodyguard, it has emerged. Michelle Reid took over as head of the Fairfax County, Virginia school district in July 2022 and has faced a slew of controversies in her three years of leadership. She has come under fire for allegedly covering up a football recruitment scandal, withholding National Merit awards from students, and defying Title IX protections in girls sports, Fox News reports. The school board opted to renew her four-year contract last November and raised her salary $380,000 by nearly...

Keir Starmer was accused of 'gaslighting the British public' after he made 'grossly exaggerated' claims over the Government's new migrant deal yesterday. Labour announced it had detained the first small boat migrants under its 'one in, one out' returns treaty with France. But despite the narrow scope of the pilot scheme and the likelihood of long-running legal challenges, the Prime Minister took to social media to claim: 'If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back.' Writing on X, he added: 'No gimmicks, just results.' Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also appeared to overstate the...

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the sharpest image yet of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which is currently passing through our Solar System. Observations by Hubble have enabled astronomers to better estimate the size of the comet's nucleus, which is made of dust and ice. Hubble managed to capture a dust plume being ejected by the comet, as well as a glimpse of a dust tail streaming away from its nucleus. SNIP

New York City socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani took aim at President Donald Trump in a Thursday press conference amid a report that the president is weighing getting involved in the race. "Donald Trump has not called me," Mamdani told reporters on Thursday in New York City. "I've said that my approach to Washington will not be a reflexive one, it is one that will be in opposition to Donald Trump's administration when it comes for New Yorkers, when it comes at the expense of the welfare of the people that I'm seeking to serve," Mamdani continued. "If the president...

Pakistani child rapist gang kidnapped and r*ped 8 girls aged 11 and 15. The gang gave the girls heroin and crack and made them addicted. The girls were forced into prostitution and sold for £600. One of the girls who was severely tortured committed suicide. This happened in Oxford UK.

[Catholic Caucus] French scout leader steps down amid backlash over abortion support, same-sex relationshipMarine Rosset, the newly appointed president of France’s largest Catholic-inspired scouting organization, resigned less than two months after her election amid intense criticism over her support for abortion rights and her homosexual relationship.After announcing her resignation on Aug. 6, the 39-year-old Socialist Party member explained her decision in an interview with the Catholic daily La Croix, saying the “situation had become untenable” and expressing her desire to “protect the movement.”Rosset was elected president of the Scouts et Guides de France (SGDF) on June 14 by a decisive...

I've crafted two versions of the same Flash Fiction story. I'm going to present them both here, and YOU GUYS (and gals) will decide which one I use.Story OneTHE ARGUMENT“See, I told you, you should believe in climate change.” “Sure, I believe in that. But manmade climate change? No way.” “Look at all the evidence.” Sal showed a computer screen with articles, facts, and figures dancing across the glass surface. “You’ve shown me this a million times, and I’m still not convinced. When are you going to show me something new?” replied Pat dismissively. “Why should I have to? Everything...

The fight over the Lone Star State’s congressional map heats up, but we have all been here before.From the moment Democratic state legislators fled Texas to prevent the redrawing of congressional districts, the word of the day – on every day that it’s not Russiagate or Epstein – has been gerrymandering. What is it? Why is it called that? How can you tell if your congressional district was gerrymandered? And why, apparently, is it only Republicans who do it? Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Aug. 6 petitioned the Lone Star State’s supreme court to remove Gene Wu, who chairs...

US Ambassador Mike Huckabee announced a plan to expand aid distribution operations in the Gaza Strip early on Thursday morning. The US plans to finance the new aid distribution centers, which will expand from the current four to a total of 16 new points where Gazans will be able to pick up aid. The news comes as Israel announced plans to ramp up aid distribution in the Strip by either funding the Gaza Humanitarian Fundation (GHF) or allowing foreign countries to send supplies. The first of these aid drops, done last Friday, was executed in coordination with France, Germany, and...

The Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard composition is a country classic, but it certainly wasn’t an instant hit.No one would argue that the Patsy Cline song “I Fall To Pieces” is anything but a country classic. But an instant hit? It certainly wasn’t one of those. On August 7, 1961, the song written by the prolific writers Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard climbed to the top of the Billboard country chart — six months after it was released, and nine after it was recorded on November 16 the year before. In the 2020s, it’s not uncommon for a song...

Here’s a striking statistic: A third of all Washington, D.C., district judges (known for anti-Trump rulings) are foreign-born. Does this matter?It certainly may if they’re anything like hard-left representative Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). She said in Spanish at a recent Mexico City summit, “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American.”Then there’s Representative Deqa Dhalac (D-Maine), who was the first female Somali-born mayor in the U.S. In a resurfaced video clip, she can be heard saying, while wearing her hijab, that she wants to “help our country” (referencing Somalia). She did catch herself and follow the quoted phrase with, “our former...

It’s time for America to reclaim its principal city as the jewel it was designed to be.On Monday, a crime that would be shocking in most of America happened in Washington, D.C. That crime, where it occurred, wasn’t shocking at all. And this fact should create consequences that Americans from Maine to Hawaii ought to be proud of. Edward Coristine isn’t quite 20 years old, but he’s nonetheless a famous figure. Coristine is known by his alias, “Big Balls.” He’s a college student and programmer formerly appointed to the Department of Government Efficiency, but he’s now a permanent federal...

Clarkson had announced late Wednesday night that she was postponing the August dates of her Vegas residency because Blackstock "had been ill."Talent manager and Kelly Clarkson‘s ex-husband Brandon Blackstock has died after a battle with cancer. He was 48. “It is with great sadness that we share the news that Brandon Blackstock has passed away,” Blackstock’s management company Starstruck, founded by his father, Narvel, said in a statement posted to its Instagram account. “Brandon bravely battled cancer for more than three years. He passed away peacefully and was surrounded by family. We thank you for your thoughts and prayers and...

Israel’s security cabinet met Thursday night to debate whether to approve a full military conquest of the Gaza Strip, as IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned that such an operation would endanger the lives of hostages still held by Hamas. Zamir, addressing ministers during the high-stakes meeting, repeated his support for a strategy of encirclement and said advancing into densely populated areas would make it impossible to ensure the hostages’ safety. He also warned that a full conquest would come at significant cost to the military’s strength and readiness. Outside the meeting, hostage families and former captives...

Scylax of Caryanda, a Greek in the service of the Persian Great King, is best known for his early exploration of India and for shaping what the ancient Greeks knew about the East. Born in the late 6th century BC in a Carian town of Asia Minor (Anatolia), he lived at the cultural crossroads of Greek and Persian influence. Scylax became both an explorer and a writer—an essential figure in the transmission of geographical knowledge between civilizations. Unfortunately, Scylax’s original writings have not survived. What we know of his life and work comes from fragments preserved by later historians like...

Columbia University agitator and terror fanboy Mahmoud Khalil just let the truth slip: The “pro-Palestine” movement believes Hamas was justified and right to commit the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities, to forestall a “very imminent” Saudi-Israeli peace deal. SNIP The savage Oct. 7 attacks, Khalil told The New York Times’ Ezra Klein, were just a “desperate attempt” to “break the cycle.” What “cycle”? The one where Israel was making peace with Arab states. But, whined Khalil, Israel and Saudi Arabia were about to normalize relations “as if Palestinians are not part of the equation,” and “unfortunately . . . we couldn’t...

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in comments that suggested Washington and Moscow could soon hold a summit.Trump's comments followed a statement from Putin earlier in the day that he hoped to meet with Trump next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates. But the White House was still working through the details of any potential meetings, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.When asked by a reporter if Putin would need to meet with Zelenskyy in order to secure a meeting...